Laundry sorting?

[YMo7]

do you all just chuck all the clothes in a basket or do you sort them?

I have 5 dirty clothes baskets... I have 6 kids atm.
1. Socks, Underwear, PJ's and School/Sport Uniforms (i always make sure its empty coz its most important)

2. Towels, Tea towels and face washers

3. Bedding - Sheets and Blankets

4. All tops - jumpers, t-shirts etc

5. All bottoms - pants, shorts, etc.

Is this anal? its the only way i can cope with the washing and know that all the important things are clean and ready for footy, soccer, school, budo etc)

What are you coping strategies?

[Nomsie]

You're clever to do it that way- at the moment there are just the two of us, but DP refuses to re-use towels and most clothes, so I find I constantly have washing to do :hair:

I have three baskets- one for towels, and the other two for just clothes in general (one may be waiting for clean washing to be folded and the other may have dirty clothes waiting to be washed).

I think if I had a bigger laundry (don't have a laundry as such, just a hallway!) I think I woud be using your system! :)

[WorkingClassMum]

yes - you are anal lol:laughing:

but the laundry sorting is a brilliant way to reduce your workload and help make everyone else responsible to contributing to running the house

we just have a light and dark baskets and MOTH piles all his washing on the bedroom floor.....

[sam's mum]

I have got four tubs. Blue tub for darks, Yellow tub for lights, Pink tub for colours and Purple tub for towels, bibs, washers, sheets etc.

I like being able to see which load has enough clothes to do and which needs to be done.

[raffee]

I only sort when I'm about to do a load, although we have 2 laundry baskets- one in the bathroom and one in our bedroom. I usually wash every other day, sometimes every day, depending on if I've changed bedding etc. I do at least two loads on any given wash day. I think because I'm washing so often, I don't find it hard keeping up with the important stuff. I do hate putting the clothes away, so atm we are using the spare room as a clothing depository.

[YMo7]

haha - kateyo, i must tell my husband that i am anal with the washing - he wouldn't agree. lol. i do get secretly cranky when the kids put the wrong clothes in the wrong basket or on the floor. hehe.

omg - raffee - i wish! i have 3 loads EVERY day - i miss a day, the next day i have to do 6!!!

[sunnyflower]

Nope i am very naughty:p

Everything just goes in together,whites,coloureds,the lot.I am very slack.

However i wash every day or nearly every day.Even though it is just the two of us i ahte having dirty clothes lying around,it just groses me out.

[raffee]

haha - kateyo, i must tell my husband that i am anal with the washing - he wouldn't agree. lol. i do get secretly cranky when the kids put the wrong clothes in the wrong basket or on the floor. hehe.

omg - raffee - i wish! i have 3 loads EVERY day - i miss a day, the next day i have to do 6!!!

I've got a 10kg washer, so maybe that has something to do with it! :D

[punkbaby]

i have two baskets and a nappy bucket, the kids know how to seperate, all the darks in one and whites in the other.
The towels are just tossed in according to what colour they are and i just sort as i do a load

[sopolicha]

I have the five washing baskets as well, whites, light colours, dark colours and blacks.

Just to be extra anal about the whole thing, I make sure all the clothes in the basket are the right way out. I only wash once a week, so it is easy just to tip the basket all into the washing machine at once.

To save hours hanging out every washer, pair of socks and undies they go into the dryer, - except my undies, because I can't afford to have them shrink on me!!

[YMo7]

sopolicha ....
omg more often than not, everything from my undies, socks, pjs, uniforms basket usually goes straight in the dryer too...
and - i cant stand having things in the wrong way. the kids get pulled up on it - especially socks or when they take their tshirt off with their jumper and they get stuck together... grr.

[punkbaby]

GOd if i used the dryer it would be on 24/7 seems that washing is my biggest chore here, there is always a load to do and always something to fold or something to bring in LOL we do about 3 loads a day too thats on a good day!

[cwsmum]

I wash at least one load every day except thursday. (Thursday is my day off, DS is at school & DD at daycare, I do stuff I want to do and try not to do anything for anyone else.)

We have 2 baskets, one in the bedroom for DH's work stuff (tho it's usually empty and his washing is spread all over the house), the other is in the bathroom for all the other washing. I wash bedding as soon as it comes off the beds. The kids beds get done on a weekend and mine gets done mid-week.

Oh, and I have a nappy bucket that gets emptied once every week or so. DD only wears nappys for sleeps now and she rarely wets them so the bucket is often full of dry nappies.

[YMo7]

lol punkbaby - our dryer is on for probably 3 hours each day sometimes more, sometimes less.
we are the same - there is ALWAYS washing to be folded, packed away, washed, hung out, etc... sometimes (about one day a month) i get jack of it and sort the kids clothes out as the come off the line, dump them on their respective beds (only the oldest 4) and say "right, i want your clothes folded and packed away NEATLY - coz i will check - before playing outside today/computer/TV etc"
my washing machine is only 7.kg but MIL and FIL got it for me as a surprise present when i was PG with #3 to help me a bit. (before we got custody of my DSK's)... I would like to look at selling it and buying a HUGE one when this next one comes along... it would only be 2.5 years old though.. hhmm???

[TeamAwesome]

OP- sounds like a good system to me... I have a nudist and a princess who likes to dress up so am constantly finding clothes all over the place.

On what we do I don't have space in my current laundry to do it sorted like that, it's usually just collected every night while the older two have a bath and put into our dirty clothes basket. Then I put into piles in the hall way and then do it on pile at a time. BUT yesterday I had to use bug spray in our WIR so have rewashed almost everything in there and oh my goodness did I pick the wrong time to find icky bugs. I'm still drying it all as it's been raining... PLus of course all the usual kids messy clothes to be washed (they are dirt magnets I swear)

Anyhow depending on the amount of washing I have to do I will sort into these piles

Delicates
Whites
Lights
Colours
Darks
Baby (this is mostly poo-plosion related so she still has her own load for that reason)
DH uniforms whenever they need to be done (fifo makes for much less washing for me for which I'm thankful)
DS TTing stuff (so whatever he has accidents on during the day must get done that night.)
Towels
Kids linen
Our linen

But I usually only don't have all that much for each load (you know delicates could easily go in with the whites/colours deending on what it is)

Oh and we only have a 7.5kg washer which I should the children continue at their current rate I'll be needing a bigger one next year.

raffee- I'm jealous of your 10kg washer. Once our kids are bigger and we're in a place with a laundry bigger than a shoe box I'm hoping to get a lovely big washer and dryer.

[fozzie]

I have two baskets one for lights and one for darks then as I get going with the MCN I'll also have nappies and then I have one in bubs room as I always wash bub stuff seperatley for the first few months.

I dread to think how much more I will have to do once #4 arrives it's bad enough with one load a day.

[mumofsix]

Totally understand the pile up if you miss a day washing!:yes: I have 9yr old 6yr old 4yr old and 1yr old triplets. My washing machine and dryer go pretty much constant. Dont sort too much, they just get chucked in. I feel very slack reading all these comments by obviously very organised mummies!!:(

[InSaneOne]

if it makes you feel better mumofsix if don't sort either. i do put bras in a delicates bag (and my breastpads too) and then just chuck them in the wash. i do wash nappies, towels and sheets seperate to clothes. but on average i do 3 loads every second day.

[mummeeto2]

I don't sort til wash day which is roughly every 3rd day.
-smalls - underwear, bras, socks, aprons (DH is a chef/trade instructor)
-tops, dresses, singlets
-pants, skirts

I find it easiest to fold one type of clothing at a time. When DH washes he just chucks everything in til the machine's (over) full, into the dryer then onto the couch for me to fold, cos 'he did the washing!' Then wonders why he's missing socks

[QTB]

i dont sort

but i have one basket for everything (clothes/towels/sheets etc etc) (wash 1 load every second day, and towels once a week, sheets fortnightly)

then a bucket for bubs clothes and nappies. (every second - third day)

i just dont have the room for more than one basket! my laundry is tiny!

[DoulaRobyn]

I do four loads of washing a day (now that I have a teeny tiny machine, I used to have a 10kgs washer so could get away with 1 or 2!) and I find that at the end of the day I have six baskets and I throw each childs clothes seperately and then a basket for the adults and a basket for the linen cupboard. I then take this unfolded washing into the bedrooms and fold as I put away. It has become a robotic task, I don't enjoy it one bit but I do enjoy the time to just think of nothing!

I really get sick of the washing, folding, washing, folding repetition!

[CJJHRA]

if I sorted it would probably double or even triple the washing.

I do a load of tracky material type stuff together
DF's stuff all in together
then everything else together
well towels on their own of course

dont seperate colours (well we dont have white clothes anyway really else I would maybe do whites...)

[SuperMum10/12]

Hi Ladies ... My washing Machine and Dryer go from when I get up in the morning till I go to bed at night I have a basket in my Bath room in each of my children's rooms and one in my Laundry .. Its not my washing that I stress about its the folding because I am a perfectionist my folding has to be very neat I don't like my Linen cupboard messy it all has to be in order like all sheets have to be folded a certain way I even have a knack of folding fitted sheets all my towels and flannels and tea towels have to face the same way with the fold all facing the same way it also has to be sized if one is a bit smaller than another then it goes on the top if that make any sense to you all... I fold all my children's clothes and they are all in the draws a set way all T shirts are in sized and when I fold my socks they are folded so they are flat and when put in the draw they lay all in size largest to smallest .. My family and friends all tease me because they have never seen anyone like me before .. My oldest Daughter loves teasing me she will fold it when I'm not looking and when she's not looking I refold it I have even been now to have a stress attack over my washing so there is my washing story .... :hissy::hissy:

[rollercoastermum]

I sort our things as they get taken to the laundry where possible..

I have 5 or 6 baskets in the laundry for the clothing to be sorted to:

soxs n undies.
pj's.
lights.
darks.
towels, tea towels, facewashers.
sheets.

If sorted properly it is much easier for someone else to put a load of washing on -haha good try - as it is ready to been thrown in the machine!

Wish the kids would learn how to sort it when they take it down!

[~CupCakes~]

Hi Ladies ... My washing Machine and Dryer go from when I get up in the morning till I go to bed at night I have a basket in my Bath room in each of my children's rooms and one in my Laundry .. Its not my washing that I stress about its the folding because I am a perfectionist my folding has to be very neat I don't like my Linen cupboard messy it all has to be in order like all sheets have to be folded a certain way I even have a knack of folding fitted sheets all my towels and flannels and tea towels have to face the same way with the fold all facing the same way it also has to be sized if one is a bit smaller than another then it goes on the top if that make any sense to you all... I fold all my children's clothes and they are all in the draws a set way all T shirts are in sized and when I fold my socks they are folded so they are flat and when put in the draw they lay all in size largest to smallest .. My family and friends all tease me because they have never seen anyone like me before .. My oldest Daughter loves teasing me she will fold it when I'm not looking and when she's not looking I refold it I have even been now to have a stress attack over my washing so there is my washing story .... :hissy::hissy:

your AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! :yelclap:

[Lastcenturymum]

You need a system with a big family and sounds like you must have a big laundry with all those baskets, but I'm sure it saves sorting time. I know a lady who had 6 girls and not sure what she did before washing, but when she folded/ironed she had plastic tubs on a shelf and everyone had a tub and she put stuff straight into those as she went. She also had a rack on wheels to hang things as she ironed. Worked well.

Nomsie, I wouldn't be washing all those towels, apart from the waste of water I would dry/air them, refold and let him think are clean!

Oh to answer the question, one basket and sort it when I wash. Don't have too much so it works for me

[maorimama]

I wash a load of towels and a load of clothes everyday, sometimes more. All teatowels get soaked and washed seperately as do whites twice a week.
Sheets get done weekly.
I too only have a small laundry and I hate having washing sit there so only have two baskets.

Like Supermum10/12 I am very particular about how I fold my washing and don't let anyone else do it.

It has been interesting to read what others do.

[Bessie]

Hiya! We are a family of 5 so not really a big family, but I love all your tips. I find the folding and sorting stage hardest. The wash I just do as and when - lights and darks. We have a 10kg washing machine which is great. I am line drying as my tumble dryer died, but I try not to use it anyway. Our line is one of those 5 string ones and its under the pergola so doesn't get wet. It hold 2 10kg loads.
For the sorting, each member of the family has a coloured basket... then I have one for unmatched socks and another for sheets/towels/misc. Every so often I get all the dried clean washing and we dump it on the sofa. Then we all hover round and chuck the washing in the right basket. Then we go through each persons basket and put that away. I don't iron, unless it's something special. I figure life is too short and we just have modern clothes which don't need ironing!
btw our basket colours match our toothbrushes and cups!